Algeria to sever diplomatic ties with UAE after years of tension

Algeria is severing diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates after “provocative or hostile” acts by the Gulf state, its foreign ministry said.

“Algeria spared no effort to draw the Emirati side and warned it of the dire consequences that could result from its regrettable and unjustified behaviour,” it said.

The statement did not provide any details on why Algeria has taken this step, but relations between the two countries have soured in recent years amid a series of regional disputes.

There has been no direct response from the UAE, but the president’s diplomatic advisor said ties are not based on “riddles and signals that require decoding”.

“Diplomatic relations are managed through rationality, communication and clarity of interests”, Anwar Gargash wrote on X.

While he did not single out Algeria in his post, he said successful diplomacy was built on understanding and management of interests and differences.

“Ambiguity is not a policy, and noise does not compensate for the absence of vision,” Gargash added.

The Algerian foreign ministry’s statement – shared by state media – claimed that the UAE’s behaviour had reached a point where it could no longer be tolerated, and that it had “exhausted all means of preserving bilateral relations”.

The UAE ambassador was summoned to the ministry, where he was informed of the decision and told he had 48 hours to comply, it added.

The two countries’ relations have increasingly become strained over recent years due to their opposing positions on several regional issues.

Algeria rejects the normalisation of diplomatic relations with Israel, which the UAE and Morocco – Algeria’s neighbour and rival – have established ties with under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

The UAE also supports Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara in a decades-long dispute over its sovereignty, while Algeria has given its backing to the Polisario Front, an armed group which seeks an independent state there for the Sahrawi people.